#am i a fucking joke to you Dan and Phil?

[mybraindumpsterfire]

Us: Please do a ‘Week in the Life’ video, please pretty please 🙏

Dan and Phil: Mmmm… Funko Pop Game? 😋

[everybody-hit-the-pyro-cue]

im going to cry this is actually healing me

[danandfuckingjonlmao]

): sad that the dannies and the anti-dans can't reach peace during the holidays.

aw it’s ok anon i’m sure we can find other things in common. like hey! covid sucks huh? i’m pretty sure i have covid right now and i just took a test so we’ll see. hope you’re well. hope you had a good day and you’re healthy. good will to all dannies, dantis, phillies, phantis, and phannies galore. this is just like the end of a christmas carole. life imitates art.

[pseudophan]

ok so i don’t even go here but i have know OF dan and phil forever and i need to make it clear, i have never actually watched their videos but i do know that they came out a few years back. so today on a whim i decided to watch that birthday stream and holy shit i always thought y’all were just delusional freaks (no offense) but like they’re like actually in love. ive been making fun of y’all for YEARSSSSSS for being delusional i am so sorry 😭 i am also sorry that i had to sit through that weird ass homo erotic catholic role play….is that a normal occurrence from them orrrr??????

LMFAOOOOOOO see this is exactly the thing, i am fully aware that from the outside we do look fucking insane like that's honestly fair cause we sure do act like it but if you look into it it's... they're a lot... i will admit today was over the top even for them, like the catholic roleplay is new (except for this masterpiece) and i'm not quite sure what to do about it

but as for the in love part they're just like that always. it's actually exhausting. the third wheeling i experience during every video is intense, especially since they came out cause while they're still pretending to pretend like they're Just Besties (kind of an in-joke at this point) they generally don't give a fuck and so we get to see just the sweetest interactions imaginable and it's great and horrible at the same time

don't get me wrong we're still freaks, just not delusional ones

[fryday]

I know there were so much going on in the new mukbang video, but I feel like we need a deep dive into the whole "I don't want to not do this, but I also just want you to be happy...I didn't want you to do something that didn't feel right for you. You should always follow your dreams and heart" speech. Sacrificing the thing you love and bring you the most monetary income for the person you LOVE.. This right here is the hard launch. In this day and age (especially in the whole "influencer" world), people prioritize money, fame, recognition, views over anything. We literally see how many relationships were destroyed because of money. YET, Phil said this line to Dan in the first mukbang video so lovingly and wholeheartedly and still a 5-years hiatus later. Like...YOU are above everything else in my life. UGH. My heart literally combusted and my forever dried eyes literally shed real tears as I heard him say this. So many people are saying Phil is winning the idgaf war, when bro clearly has been giving way too many fucks about his little giant "buddy" in the past 15 years (and still counting).

I sent you an ask before and said that I feel like Dan spoils Phil so much in this new era. After watching this mukbang video, I would say Phil DESERVES to be treated like a tudor princess. If I were Dan, I would be like him too... like...you don't have to catch me when I faint or go to the hospital with me when I am literally half blind if you prioritize ME and my feelings in your life and willing to support and love me no matter what. :')

this is so true anon. so so true. the joke about phil being the king of winning the idgaf war is really really funny because he DOES handle dan's more "serious" issues in such a hilarious, matter-of-fact way, and it just makes for incredible memes.

but jokes aside, it's really just different ways of showing love. i feel like phil's love is an accepting love. it's the kind of love that you can fall on, the kind of love that takes you in as your whole self (flaws and oddities and all) and says "you belong here" anyway, "i'll support every part of you". and we know this was exactly where dan found his sanctuary at 18 years old when they first met. in the same vein, it's phil so many years later saying i want you to be happy, first of all. YOU, the human in my life, before the "you" that involves your job/career/public perception/etc.

so when people laugh about phil winning the idgaf war it's because phil won't fuss over dan or wax poetic about how the fated creation of ranch parallels the fated creation of dan and phil (not over it), and that's simply because phil doesn't seem to express his love by *putting it out*. he expresses his love by *taking in*. his love is in his acceptance.

on the flipside, i feel like dan is someone who puts his love out (ironic considering he's the "love isn't real" guy, but). he shows his love in the million and one little gestures (see: him basically making half of phil's drink in the phantasy cocktails video) and proclamations of love (see again: ranch parallels). so, as you said, it comes across in a more doting sort of manner - which is just. well it's adorable.

tl;dr - they love each other more than anyone could ever encapsulate in a tumblr ask + response, but in different equally valid ways.

[ashleyeveerson]

✨ THE DAN AND PHIL LORE pt. 3✨

CHECK OUT PART 2: https://www.tumblr.com/ashleyeveerson/760707933651746816?source=share

Phil ALSO comes out! (yeah no i'm not crying what? not them feeling comfortable enough to be themselves yeah). 2019 also brings us the adoption of a fish named Norman (a cutie) AND they also post pictures about their recent trip to Japan [the photo of Phil looking up to Dan behind the camera? yeah i am so normal about it, i swear]. There is hope in the horizon still for a Dan and Phil comeback...

BAM! A certain virus runs wild and forces everyone to stay at home. Phil continues to upload solo videos which distracted so many of us during these dark times. Dan, however is AWOL and the only pic we have of him is a shitty screenshot of him in glasses and a mask helping Phil rescue an injured pigeon (lockdown was WILD).

Also, my boy Dan post a cryptic tweet that leads to the announcement of a self-help book named YOU WILL GET THROUGH THIS NIGHT (because you will <3). Nah but I can't count how many times I've sobbed reading it, just him trying to help out others who have also struggled with mental health... istg i love this man

Hey so THEY BUY THEIR FOREVER PHOUSE TOGETHER they're gonna kill me one day istg. "Dan and Phil just decided to pay a mortgage together", top 10 sentences that would kill a 2016 phan. They are slaying, they are glowing... also rip Norman the fish you will not be forgotten

So during 2014 the fates (aka a random youtuber) foretold that Dan and Phil would be married in 2022. Since that clearly didn't happen the meme PHIVORCE united the phandom once more. ALSO Dan is out there shitting on youtube (as he should) and going on his solo tour WE'RE ALL DOOMED! Which i love with all my heart and also Phil being there for him every step of the way... AHHHHHHHH

Anyways a certain video called Dan and Phil finally tell the truth hits the internet and let's just say GOD DAMN. This also starts a wonderful trend amongst Dan and Phil in which they make fun of their audience (we deserve it ngl) and absolutley SHOCK US with new information about bonkers shit from their past [apparently they were offered a threesome MULTIPLE TIMES???]

It's the end. They've decided to give up their channel "Dan and Phil Games" forever... let's take a moment and silent and mourn with a compilation of Heart eyes Howell

...

SIKE! We're back baby and we're better than ever!!! The goodbye video turned out the be an ANNOUNCEMENT of their comeback. They are back, Dil Howlter is here and Phil confesses to having dyed everything green in the house when Dan went on tour bc he missed him (OH GOD). Also, the Halloween baking video introduced us to the icon that is.... *drumroll please*

SISTER DANIEL, the queen of making everyone reconsider their sexuality... she is the moment, she is an icon and she is serving astronomical levels of cunt at all time [jokes aside, Dan being comfortable enough to do drag in public, fuck they've come so far i'm so proud of them <3].

And here we are in the future, it's present day and they are queerer and happier than ever. THE PICTURES I CAN'T ISTG. Also Dan's Birthday stream is beyond iconic. First of all my unproblematic kings make it a charity stream to donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (using their public influence for good hell yeah)... And how did they raise the money you ask? WELL BY HITTING IS WHERE WE'RE WEAKEST. Sister Daniel makes a spectacular comeback, FATHER PHIL is introduced and Dan even dyes his hair red to be more Good Omens coded... which timeline are we living in again? like how is any of this real?

Also them drawing the PINOF whiskers on their faces again... they're literally growing old together I'm gonna go sob in a corner. Also the fake apology video bc they have no fashion sense in the Sims 4 is hilarious as fuck. HOW CAN THEY POSSIBLY BE SO MUCH HOTTER ON THEIR THIRTIES EXPLAIN??

anyways the phandom is still speculating wether they're erasing "i love you's" at the end of their text when they show them on videos... guess some things never change. Nah but the vibes are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOW, they are more open than they've ever been and participate on the phan culture FULLY to the point that they're the ones terrorizing us now.

QUICK DETOUR TO TALK ABOUT PHIL'S FAMOUS BAD LUCK (and then they wonder why he's always dying in the fanfics). Nah but my poor man has had his fair share of medical problems, the most recent being...

OH GOD WHY WOULD YOU ANNOUNCE SOMETHING LIKE THAT THIS WAY?? nah like using humor as a coping mechanism and all but do they wanna gives a heart attack?! iconic i fear however

So yeah the video where they talk about it is WILD (funniest shit about the whole ordeal is that a nurse mistook Dan as Phil's son). Also I saw a tweet speculating about Phil having a hickey like... first of all what is it? 2009? Second of all IT'S MOST LIKELY A POPPED VESSEL FROM LOSING ALL THAT BLOOD YOU KNOW

They still were able to go on their vacation (aka the rodent boy summer) which gifted us with this iconic pics... ALSO they dropped a new Dan and Phil beats for summer go check out the names of the tracks istg they wanna kill their fans.

Nothing is sacred anymore, they've infiltrated twtphan, they're actively reposting memes and writing fanfiction about themselves. It's the wild west, everytime you get a notification is like playing Russian Rulet. Cringe is dead and Dan and Phil ARE COMING NEAR YOUR CITY on a tour named "Terrible Influence" where Phil's spent 300€ on silicone. It's a wonderful time to be a phan.

OKAY SO here's some stuff that didn't make the cut but that i find too hilarious to not mention. In no apparent order: DAN DRESSING UP AS A CATBOY, Dan and Phil playing technicians 1 and 2 on Big Hero 6 and two brothers on the Lion King (wtf was that also they gave the gorilas matching fringes), Dan dressing up as a golden pig (my boy has RANGE) and finally Dan being too embarassed to admit he stalked Phil and telling a reporter he was only asking for "editing tips" if you know what i mean

Also a short compilation of Dan and Phil losing the idgaf war against eachother THEY ARE SO THOUGHTFUL ABOUT EVERYTHING. Special mention to Daniel's 🧡 when Phil praised "We're all doomed!" and Dan's ranch metaphor to describe their relationship (just go watch the mukkbang video OH LORD)

SO, in conclusion... Dan and Phil's refusal to belittle their past and instead embrace it as part of their story while actively moving into the future alongside the phandom YEAH THAT SHIT MEANS SOMETHING. They're simultaneously healing our inner child while embracing us as the adults we've become i have many feelings about them

So what are they?

They're just Dan and Phil.

[lesbiandanhowell]

Sam reacts to: Who Is the Real Dan Howell?

What parallel universe have we entered that we got another video so quickly?? Also the fact that only Dan was on the thumbnail briefly had me thinking this is a Dan solo video and I just, accepted that.

- "How do I please my husband" PHIL WHAT THE FUCK. Wedding hill is so real I am not even joking anymore.

- So much touching I am just thinking of @danrifics every time Dan softly puts his hands on Phils shoulder.

- OH MY GOD PHIL WHEN DID PHIL BECOME THE HORNY ONE OUT OF THESE TWO

- They are wearing so much color in this video, and lowkey matching, like the colors of Phil's sweater are the same shades as Dan's and it's doing things to me.

- I am not going to lie, the sponsors just make me giggle these days like babe they broke.

- "Full drag race challenge" please more gay jokes like this that aren't just incredibly horny, my lesbian ace self is very thankful.

- Phil clutching his pearls (aka his non existent boobs) why has this become a thing?

- "Can we take a moment... who is googling how to chew gum" He sounded so genuinely soft and confused when he said that it made me laugh.

- Dan calling boobs lumps and Phil trying to save it and Dan just breaking out into the full song, all lyrics memorized.

- Dan stop looking at Phil (they kissed after this, I am just going full demon, but come on)

- THEY EDITED THIS THEMSELVES. First video in a hot minute that where no editor is credited which is CURIOUS.

- Dan I do not want to know how to suck dick THANK YOU VERY MUCH I AM FINE ACTUALLY

- "I would wave my trunk around" PHIL ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOURSELF I AM SOBBING and the fact Dan didn't even point it out and just looked at Phil all wtf.

- "How to be cunty" YES DAN BE CUNTY

- "Twitter just shut up"ohhh Dan talking like the tumblr phannies

- HOW DO THEY KEEP MOVING CLOSER like they are basically sitting in each others lap at this rate. They always start out with a reasonable distance and then just lean into each other the entire video.

- "Get a cat" YES GET A CAT

- SHOULDER TOUCHING FUCK OOOOOOOFF

I am severely unwell actually bye.

[cemeterygrace]

if you spoil tit for me i will end you

i won’t be on dnp tumblr frequently again until november 2nd

you have been warned

name: noa

age: 18

pronouns: whatever makes the joke funnier idc really

gender: formless blob idc

sexuality: attracted to women, formless blobs, and the guy that happens to be my boyfriend. just a fruity fucker honestly.

member of the grape medicine haters cult

if you’re here for a specific fandom, i’m sorry for your loss

asks are always open just don’t be gross

feel free to tag me and message me anytime!

fandoms: there’s a lot so have a list (or multiple)

music (these are all apple music links i’m sorry)

mcr

fall out boy

twenty one pilots

muna

boygenius

against me!

something corporate

ball park music

bears in trees

bleach lab

catfish and the bottlemen

chappell roan

dead sara

ethel cain

ezra furman

flor

idkhow

linkin park

judah and the lion

the killers

ls dunes

laura jane grace

nxdia

paramore

pavement

rostam

semler

sophian

sophie

starset

tegan and sara

trash boat

vampire weekend

waterparks

weezer

the wombats

the young veins

other

dan and phil

daniel thrasher

nate bargatze

kim stanley robinson

brandon sanderson

charlie jane anders

markiplier

unus annus

other stuff

i’m an mcr5 truther

i am a specialty root beer connoisseur (abita root beer hell yeah)

i’m on the hunt for the best fettuccine alfredo ever send me recs

i’m a freshman history major

i am a band kid do with that what you will

i have a dog she’s a mini englishdoodle named piper and she’s precious

i am a lactose intolerant cheese enjoyer

i have hella disabilities/chronic illnesses/diseases

i am a midwestern hoe

i play cymbals in marching band

instruments i play because this post needs another list

piano

flute

bass guitar

drums

mallet percussion

cymbals

violin

saxophone (a bit)

disabilities and such

juvenile idiopathic polyarticular arthritis (they can’t agree on a fucking name)

adhd (primarily inattentive type)

enthesitis

scheuermann’s disease

extreme hypermobility

lactose intolerant af

auditory processing disorder

my tags!

damn you’re all the way down here? neat! good job for reading all of that lmao <3 as a treat here are some fun facts

i have entirely too many books in my room send help they’ve taken over

going to tit tour and clancy minneapolis!

i might perhaps also run state-of-minnesota-official (i can’t legally bitch about wisconsin too much tho i go to college there)

i am a minnesota bitch what about it

i had chai and ube ice cream once and it was absolutely life changing

i’ve been to 30 states if we’re counting washington dc

i’ve been to 6 countries including the 3 main north american ones (america cause i live there, canada, and mexico)

i’ve been at the summit of the second tallest mountain east of the mississippi (mount washington)

tysm for reading you’re my favorite <3

dni: fascists, shitheads and bigots, israel supporters, terfs, ableists, etc. if you’re a dick about other people existing, this ain’t the place for you.

[dnp-dreams]

I just woke from a fever dream that was I think supposed to be the phan theory video where it opened in their house with a shot of Phil and this small black kitten that had got inside somehow and Phil was begging Dan to keep it and Dan said no we can’t then jump cut to them putting a collar on it and implied that they have a cat now but that same shot jumpcuts to Dan putting a collar on Phil then immediately jumps back to the cat except it’s an adult tabby cat now with 2 heads and it’s implied the joke of the video will be that they will continually change random things to see if we notice/ to fuck with us. It’s slipping away from me now but I didn’t pick up my phone at 4am for nothing, jumpcut to them sitting on their kitchen bench with a little photo frame in front of them, inside of which is an image of their Wikipedia page. They turn to each other and lean in and at the last moment phil turns away and talks to camera, starts a monologue about how it’s been ten (15?) years and after all this time (during monologue camera zooms on the photo frame and the Wikipedia page starts scrolling/merges into some kind of tumblr/Wikipedia mashup of fan theory and official info ) camera zooms back out to dnp again and Phil finishes his monologue saying there’s been so much speculation and (referring to them leaning in before) they couldn’t just do THAT…. He trails off and looks at Dan and then they actually kiss for real. Video ends.

I wake up in a cold sweat thinking my god I’m going to kill them , then I realise it was a dream (nightmare? Phightmare?) but I have this gut feeling that they posted something (the video?) and I somehow absorbed it into my dream via like prophetic energy or some nonsense like that. I check my phone open YouTube. Nothing. I am calm. Open instagram. Everything looks normal FUCK ME NEVER MIND it’s the devil angel photo. I’m filled with rage. I check stories, i see it. I resist the urge to fly to London just so I can smack my head into a wall in front of them. I open tumblr. Everyone else is in a similar state. I dig up your account because I refuse to let this slip away from me.

Here we are. I hope ur day’s going well

anon this was an absolute wild ride. i'm sorry i got to it a few days late but i appreciate you coming here immediately after to tell me this. this is beautiful

[dnpbeats]

emma i need to confess something any theory about dnp fucking other people pisses me off

anon i'm gonna put about twenty disclaimers on this bc i'm not trying to start discourse but i must say i agree 😭😭 TO BE CLEAR at the end of the day we don't know the ins and outs of d&p's relationship, and we never will. as dan said in BIG ppl want to know who he's fucking when he's fucking them and how long he's fucking them but that is not our business to know!! so i acknowledge that my thoughts on this are my thoughts and they come from a place of personal bias and projection! so if u disagree that’s okay!! okay anyway:

yeah lmao i get that i honestly don't think that they are in an open relationship for a variety of reasons. like logistically speaking it'd be difficult (espc before they were out) and we at least know phil doesn't like one night stands, so it's not like they're perusing grindr every day looking for someone to hook up with. but also like all the swinging jokes are what make me be like yeah they aren't doing that bc if they were i don't think they'd joke about it sm bc i think it would hit too close to home 💀😭 also, i think people read too much into some of dan's comments during WAD. like i get it, yes he likes making horny jokes, but i dont think it's that deep. like even if he wasn't with phil/was in an open relationship, he wasnt being serious when he said cute mutuals slide into my DMs yk 😭 he's always made jokes about being thirsty it's nothing new. also he himself said that all his thirst posting were jokes*! and other reasons too like how jealous dan gets 💀💀

but i also think people have only one interpretation of what he says sometimes, for example him saying things like this: "This is my hot boy autumn right now and I am very much enjoying, for the first time in my life, being free and out and in the world, being able to actually talk about things, being honest, being able to go out and have fun." which, if you want to interpret that as dan saying he's getting dicked down every night of tour, that's your prerogative! but i do not think that "being free and out in the world" has to be about sex, like there are so many layers to that! i just take it to mean like being able to live authentically and exist as a gay man in public yk?

ive said this a couple times in tags on other posts, but i think that sometimes (not all the time!!) the reason why ppl come up with open relation theories is because it's already a given that d&p are together. like in 2015 you could theorize "are they gay are they in a relationship" because it wasn't explicitly stated by them. but now that they're explicitly gay, and anyone reading between the lines can see that they're together, you can't really "speculate" on phan. so, the next progression is to speculate on the exact nature of their relationship: is it open, are they in a qpr, etc. so anyway yeah that's my two cents 😭 if someone thinks they're in an open relationship that's fine pls don't come for me 😭😭

*I CANT FIND THE SOURCE FOR THIS but i know he said it bc i've referenced it before, when i eventually find it i'll put the link 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[freckliephil]

Hi welcome to the aries is hot reveal 😘💋 thanks @energeticwarrior for the time machine meetup! So cute 🥰

Top two pics are me as a freshman in high school in 2011, I used to listen to emo music and pretend i liked it because my best friend did. Id go over to his house and we would google “hot emo boys” and i would wrestle with internalized lesbophobia and compulsory heteronormativity and wonder why i only found boys attractive if they were gay or in touch with femininity in some part of their expression. He would verbally express gender envy and then deny that he was a guy. We figured it out eventually. One day we found dan and phil and spent hours watching their videos. I just assumed they were a gay couple. I didnt subscribe because i didnt have a youtube account of my own, but the two emo boys from youtube who made silly random videos stuck with me.

Over the years, they’ve popped in and out of my peripheral, sometimes occupying a ridiculously large portion of my waking thought, and sometimes fading into the background like two house parrots that you learn to tune out but still occasionally say something so strange and offputting that you have to go “what the fuck did you just say??”

They were there for me in 2016 when i was too anxious to fall asleep and would put on dan’s liveshows, when i was in my final year of college and freaking out about the future, when i was having a menty b or when i was just fucking bored out of my mind. Me and @freckliedan would have found each other in any world, but im glad we had these idiots to bond over in this one. 💕 ive made friends, traveled to new places, and learned things about myself in my time on phannie tumblr and being a proud phannie. I know its cringe and a joke but like dan and phil and this silly little fandom have legit have raised me into the hot sexy lesbian twenty something i am today. Wouldn’t trade this fucked up little community for anything tbh 💕💕

[astradyke]

hi 2:30 am here fuck well here's the post: being in this community is exhausting in the best way because i have entirely forgotten about the hand-holding in the april fools video until i remember in a violent resurgence. and i forgot about the orange carpet for we're all doomed and the aftershow with phil being there. and i forgot about remote crisis manager. and i forgot about the orange heart when phil retweeted for wad's full release. and i forgot about all the knowing jokes in their latest videos. and i forgot about the first sister daniel debut. and i forgot about from emo to angel. and i forgot about the bed and the his and his' joke and sims honeymoon parallels and the triple date photos. and i forgot about cheers dear and after everything all the health scares we don't want to take this for granted and i wanted you to be happy.

which is all to say that i haven't actually forgotten about any of these things, because i couldn't have. my mind is always a split between the small moments interspersed in gaming videos and every mention of dan during his hiatus including all the videos phil had hyping up what he was doing. and i think about cheers dear too much and i think about for the first time since i was a tiny child i actually felt safe. and i think about phil doesn't count as a person and i think about i've just seen how happy he's been since he's figured all this out. and i think about easy bubby and i think about you look lovely here.

but obviously every second dan and phil moves is like a gunshot to me, so currently all i can think about is the couple photos from their trip together. and i just got jumpscared thinking about the orange heart again because GOD we've been in this era for no time at all and for a LONG minute. i'm really new to posting in the phandom so maybe it's just that but i think it's silly i don't know like how much has happened. they <3

[freckliedan]

as the foremost scholar of dnp’s insane fuck energy i AM curious- what would you say their definitive kinks are? (i know there’s a few incredibly obvious ones of course- shoutout to the bondage bar LMAO etc) but beyond that what would you say pings on your list as like noticeable Things?

i'm never going to claim i'm 100% right but the probables? well.

bondage - consistent mentions since before they even met in person iirc

adding the domination/submission part of BDSM as well - i don't think it's all the time but. often when people would go on about bottom dan i think that's what they were picking up on

dan definitely has a bruise/blood kink based on his old tumblr reblogs/the urge

at the very least dan having a pain kink. various reasons on this one

it's much harder for me to get a read on phil than dan? and some things come across as possible but something i'm less confident on:

possibly choking though i go back and forth on being sold on this

i think that they mention the furry stuff enough that it's not like. fully a joke. i think the odds of catboy or puppyboy things making it into the bedroom are substantial

i'm always saying this but i don't think the mpreg thing is fully a joke. like there's something there. it could be pregnancy kink could be breeding kink could be gender play but like. that's one of the few things i more fully trace back to phil but it's something i think dan is also into at this point. definitely not an all the time or even necessarily often thing but like. pay attention and it's there.

possibly they developed a bit of an exhibitionist kink to cope

anyways. i hope this helped? editing to add. i am not the foremost scholar on dan's old tumblr reblogs - @phulge is.

here's a past ask i've answered on instances of their public hornyposting.

[natigail]

Dan Howell raised me (questionable, but let's go with it) to be a yapper and so I shall never fucking continue to stop yapping how delighted it makes me when DnP engage with us like this.

It might just be because I have never been in a fandom like the phandom before but the mutual teasing and respect and trust between creator and audience is something I hold so dear. It's never been flawless but I would argue at the core of it there's something so sincere, stemming from a place of love.

It's a parasocial relationship, it's not real love like you might think it, but I almost want to argue that it's a version of love, even if it should never be taken to far. There are so many people who adore, appreciate and love Dan and Phil, but I don't think it would be as fun if it wasn't just a smidge reciprocal.

As a whole, they love their audience. In what it has done for them in terms of gaining recognition and fame, but also just all of the shit that we've indirectly helped them with by sticking with them for so long. There is a bond that has been created between us and with the 2023 return of the gaming channel, I feel like they came close again.

They've created us. Sure, part of that is true. I joked about being raised by Dan but the truth isn't that far away from the joke. Him and Phil made me realise a lot of things about myself, through them I found friendships I treasure so deeply and they have inspired me to write so, so much. The person I am today is in part because of those two tall dorks.

But the creation didn't just go one way really. As a collective, their audience helped "create" them too. Creators generally want to share their creations and part of making and sharing something is wanting to see how people react to it. The Dan and Phil we see today? They wouldn't be those people without all of us.

And isn't that a beautiful thing, to leave an impression on each other? To know that in some small part, all of the cool and good work Dan and Phil have been doing, is because of the people who've stuck by them? The dedicated audience who watch and engage right back with at them.

Whether it be showing up to their shows, posting at or about them on social media or watching their videos and other content, all of that contributed to it. They know there's a whole space out there amongst their audience where we just engage with each other.

They also mostly respect that because it's not really a space for them, even if it's partly about them. It's a space for us. But I still love when we both agree to have a little overlap and share what's going on, even if it is "just" silly memes.

[dan-whoell]

When BIG dropped I was sitting in the passenger seat of my mother’s car. We were waiting for a red light to change. The youtube notification pinged and my I got goosebumps.

In all honesty I thought it was... not a joke exactly, but I thought for sure it was clickbait, that there was some kind of spin. I didn't believe it was actually happening. I went to twitter and saw some of the responses and I thought... I don't know what I thought. Everyone was (obviously) taking him very seriously and yet I still didn't believe it was actually happening. For some reason I just assumed it was being blown out of proportion. Still I was cautiously optimistic, thinking ok, maybe it’s real, but I never imagined Dan would explicitly come out the way that he did. 

An hour or two later I got home and watched it in my bedroom, alone, and cried. It was real. He was putting himself out there in a way that he could not walk back. I was so fucking proud of him. But more than that, I felt seen. Understood. The fear and the shame he talked about was so real to me. Specifically I remember that was a lot of stress about nothing and I didn’t think they’d reject me these days, but coming out is still a surprise and to anyone that isn’t out, it’s okay.

I was 23 and closeted to my immediate family and only just beginning to really accept my own gender crisis. I had so much fear about actually voicing my queerness to anyone in my family. I was out as a lesbian at work and had one friend that I even remotely said anything to about gender (which was mostly me shrugging and saying it was something I thought about, but not a whole lot.) But none of it was authentically me. I wasn’t living my truth, you know? I didn’t even know my truth because I didn’t do a lot of the work to figure myself out. I’ve always thought that I would never fully live my life until my family was gone, so I didn’t see the point in doing much exploring.

And then I saw this incredible person that I’d watched and looked up to for years had a courage that I didn't think I’d ever have. He gave words to the anxiety inside of me. I cried and I didn’t have anyone to hug but myself. 

I’m 28 now and I’m still not out to my family. It’s still scary to me. But I’ve looked inside myself a lot, and I’ve accepted the truth about who I am. I am queer. I am trans. That doesn’t change no matter who I do or do not tell. And I only have courage to accept myself because of Dan, and Phil, and entire community of people who are unapologetically themselves. 

Five years ago BIG gave me the courage to be honest with myself, and I will forever be grateful for that.

[alittledizzy]

ok based on a previous ask where you talked about how dnp's youtube era is over and phil is unwilling to change and dan is stuck in 2016 presentations, if you had the unlimited power to decide how their careers and channels progressed, what would you have them do? and also (if you don't mind a second question), what do you think they could potentially do to bring back old fans who have left?

omg okay waited until i had some time to dig back into this.

to the first question:

if i'm answering based on what i think would be good and healthy for them as people then i think they'd both do well with some kind of behind the scenes career. i think dan would love documentary making, getting to script and host, or even working on a series if he actually started at the bottom in a writer's room and learned some on the ground skill before trying to utilize his fame to get his own show right away. (this is dinok slander and i want to make that clear.)

for phil i definitely think he has a fantastic creative mind for off the beaten path projects and i think i'd enjoy seeing him work with indie filmmakers or horror projects, but just like dan i think a total track switch would require him actually getting some genuine experience in the field to be good. his late 00s youtube videos were great... for a university student in his weird era. the dapc videos were fucking hilarious for prank videos on a youtube channel. but for an actual Big Kid horror project he'd need to learn what works for audiences today and audiences that don't go into it loving phil lester like they do the air they breathe. (to be clear: i am the person who would love whatever he did. but i would also want success for him and that needs to mean it's good beyond what the fanbase accepts.)

to the second question:

i think the only thing that would genuinely give them room to bring back old fans would be an actual evolution, which they've avoided so far. they've had personal and professional growth but at no point have dan or phil ever fully just let go and stepped out of their old skins.

i think they'd have to come out as in a relationship, bluntly and blatantly. i think they'd have to embrace some openness that is neither easy nor comfortable for them. i think they'd have to actually learn how to lay to rest the old overaggerated on camera personas that are so easy to lean on when they're still in the mindset that they need to shield their true responses/natural reactions from a camera. phil is much better about this now, he's taken much more strides toward it but still - when you watch a phil video, tell me you can't predict the jokes that will come out of his mouth, and tell me you don't know that's not what he'd say if a camera is off.

but i do want to say again that i think they keep the old patterns for a reason and that i genuinely wouldn't want the above from them if it wasn't something they actually had reached a point of being okay with. i wouldn't want to see them try to force themselves into anything, but i think that's what is holding both of them back right now.